1. An assembly of ecclesiastics or other church delegates, convoked pursuant to the law of the church, for the discussion and decision of ecclesiastical affairs; an ecclesiastical council.
2. A special council of church members that holds regular meetings to discuss religious issues.
3. Etymology: from Late Latin synodus, which came from Greek synodos, "assembly, meeting, conjunction of planets"; from syn-, "together" + hodos, "a going, a way".